Injustice

First off, the question assumes that God completed the Creation in Genesis 1-2 and, maybe, interacted with it occasionally since then. But the Old Testament is packed with stories of God interacting with the world directly and with the people in it. The New Testament tells how God came in the form of a human, Jesus of Nazareth, who submitted to human sin through crucifixion on a cross in Jerusalem. It also tells the Pentecost story, in which the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus returned and filled those who choose to follow the Ways of Jesus. We Christians believe Spirit-filled living remains an option for people today. For instance, I have my own stories of how the Spirit has interacted with me, which convinces me that God wants to personally connect with us at an intimate level. I think we are important to Him. 

I presume God’s original intent was and is to create a Kingdom of free people (not trained animals or robots) who he can trust as partners in managing His whole Creation–including the undeveloped real estate or whatever extends beyond the stars we see on a clear night. That’s an enormous project in which our lifetimes span a tiny portion. And, every year, God rejoices when humans create more humans, who God enables to develop new and better ways to manage the Earth.

Humans make mistakes. And we commit sins, meaning we betray God and hurt one another, bringing injustice and evil into the world. Fortunately, God gave us a process of repentance and forgiveness so that through it all, we can remain engaged with him and each other as he grows us into the partners he's developing for the long run.  

I’m sure God sees the injustice and evil that human sin has imposed on His Creation. I'm just as sure that God will someday judge the world. Then victims will receive justice, and perpetrators will receive something else. I'll leave that for others to explain. 

However, if you're interested in how I think God will judge those who have never heard the gospel, check out my webpage: Those Who Never Heard. It also touches on how God may judge those of us who have heard the gospel but have not responded.

But back to the question of this webpage: after all these centuries on earth, why hasn't God brought justice? Scripture is clear that God's apparent slowness is to extend mercy, giving others more time to opt into following him. Rather than writing more, I'll let the scriptures speak for themselves. I've curated what I think is a list of helpful scriptures to answer the question, "Why is God so slow in bringing justice?".You can read them, then exercise the free will God gave you and decide whether to follow this God of all Creation, stick with your own spiritual compass, or simply write God out of your life.

Exodus 9:13-19

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so they can worship me. If you don’t, I will send more plagues on you, your officials, and your people. Then you will know that no one is like me in all the earth. By now, I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth.  But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth. But you still lord it over my people and refuse to let them go. So tomorrow at this time, I will send a hailstorm more devastating than any in all the history of Egypt. Quick! Order your livestock and servants to come in from the fields to find shelter. Any person or animal left outside will die when the hail falls.’” 

Psalm 103:8-10

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us as we deserve. 

Acts 17:27-31, The Apostle Paul preaching in Athens

[God’s] purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’  And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.”

“God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.  For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed (Jesus Christ), and he (God) proved to everyone who this is by raising him (Jesus) from the dead.”

Romans 3:25-26, The Apostle Paul writing to the church in Rome

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood, to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he (God) had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

2 Peter 3:9, The Apostle Peter writing to a church of domestic workers and slaves in Turkey 

The Lord (God) isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 

(The whole chapter is well worth reading; just click 2 Peter 3: The Day of the Lord Is Coming.)

It’s legitimate to ask, “So if God is delaying justice for our sake, how long must we wait?” Here’s the Apostle Paul explaining how he understands God’s trajectory: 

1 Corinthians 15:19-28 The Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth

And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

After that, the end will come, when he (Jesus Christ) will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.” (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere.

This passage is one of Paul’s strongest statements, saying that delayed justice is not divine indifference but divine strategy. Here’s the sequence:

1. Christ, risen from the grave, is the firstfruits, which means the harvest has begun, but it’s not complete, and the delay is intentional. Christ’s resurrection is the public guarantee that justice will come, but it is not the moment of justice. The gap between the two is the space where mercy operates. We live in that gap.

2. Then those who belong to Christ at his coming refer to the time of His return. So, God did not remove all evil at Christ’s resurrection. 

3. Then, at the end, Christ will hand over the kingdom to the Father. Paul explicitly says God is allowing enemies to remain for a time; it’s a period of tolerated rebellion. The delay is not a failure of justice but a stage in justice.  

4. Then the destruction of every enemy, including death. So, God is not rushing to eliminate injustice in our world; He continues to prioritize mercy over justice. 

Paul is not describing a static situation. He’s describing a temporal strategy in which God allows a period where evil still operates, even after Christ’s resurrection, because the resurrection inaugurated mercy rather than immediate judgment.

Paul does not picture God as indifferent to injustice. He pictures God as following a deliberate sequence: mercy first, justice later. Christ’s resurrection is the guarantee that justice will come, but patience, not coercion, marks Christ’s present reign. The world we live in is the world where God is giving mercy room to work before he brings the final harvest of justice.

Revelation

This book is about the end times, but it’s beyond the scope of this webpage. For a little more about it, click on Biblical Authorship > Revelation. 

Wrapup

Here’s the best advice I can offer to skeptics: 

1. Ask the Spirit of God to show you your sin. There is only one Spirit of God, for whom I tend to use these synonyms: Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Resurrected Jesus, and sometimes just Spirit. These are all names for the Spirit described in the New Testament’s Pentecost story. You can read it for yourself by clicking on Acts 2.

2. Choose to repent, tell God you’re sorry for past betrayals. 

3. Choose to follow His Spirit the best you can into the future.

4. Connect with a faithful remnant, which you will find in many, but not all, local churches.  Keep looking until you find one; the Spirit will help you discern and find a good one for you.

5. Finally, when you get to Heaven, look me up. I'm almost 80 years old as I write this, so I should get there before most of you readers. 

Another Reference

This webpage focuses on the problem of injustice. Sometimes I hear a similar question about suffering. Much of my thinking about injustice also applies to the problem of suffering. But for more on suffering, click on Suffering.

Blessings, Tim